Senior athlete Bill Altman is committed to fitness for others

By Jessica Belasco :
June 7, 2013
: Updated: June 9, 2013 2:58pm

Bill Altman, 82, will be playing with his softball team in the Texas Senior Games. Altman has been named a Personal Best Award recipient by the National Senior Games Association. He founded the San Antonio Senior Softball league in 1987 and competes in tennis and track and field events. He and his senior softball team will be competing in the 2013 National Senior Games in Cleveland in July. Altman is a player and manager.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

Three-time Olympian Robert Nieman, right, joins NSGA CEO Marc T. Riker, left, in presenting San Antonio's Bill Altman with the NSGA Personal Best Award at the Texas State Senior Games in April.

Photo By Helen L. Montoya/San Antonio Express-News

Robert Dominguez hits a triple during the Tigers game on Friday April 5, 2013. Bill Altman, 82, will be playing with his softball team in the Texas Senior Games. Altman has been named a Personal Best Award recipient by the National Senior Games Association. He founded the San Antonio Senior Softball league in 1987 and competes in tennis and track and field events. He and his senior softball team will be competing in the 2013 National Senior Games in Cleveland in July. Altman is a player and manager.

Photo By Helen L. Montoya/San Antonio Express-News

Bill Altman, 82, will be playing with his softball team in the Texas Senior Games. Altman has been named a Personal Best Award recipient by the National Senior Games Association. He founded the San Antonio Senior Softball league in 1987 and competes in tennis and track and field events. He and his senior softball team will be competing in the 2013 National Senior Games in Cleveland in July. Altman is a player and manager.

Photo By Helen L. Montoya/San Antonio Express-News

Don Crook, Dick Wiegert and Robert Dominguez sit in the dugout during their team's at bat on Friday April 5, 2013. Bill Altman, 82, will be playing with his softball team in the Texas Senior Games. Altman has been named a Personal Best Award recipient by the National Senior Games Association. He founded the San Antonio Senior Softball league in 1987 and competes in tennis and track and field events. He and his senior softball team will be competing in the 2013 National Senior Games in Cleveland in July. Altman is a player and manager.

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San Antonio Senior Softball League

What: Amateur sports organization for men ages 50 and older. League is year-round; competition is March through mid-November.

When batters in the San Antonio Senior Softball League need to call on a designated runner — usually because knee problems or other injuries prevent them from rounding the bases — they often turn to a player who happens to be the oldest guy in the league.

“I can sometimes run for 65-year-olds,” says Bill Altman, who will turn 83 in July. “Ever since I started softball I've been running for guys younger than me. That keeps some of them playing that ordinarily wouldn't be able to play at all.”

When it comes to his skills on the field, Altman has only gotten better with age. He had his best-ever year when he was 81, he says.

Maybe it was the 25 years of practice under his belt. Altman founded the San Antonio Senior Softball League in 1987 and serves as board chairman and chief administrator.

Just as Altman continues to compete, he continues to help run the league and to advocate for senior softball. He's working to persuade the city to build a softball complex at Normoyle Park, where the league plays.

“We need first-class facilities,” says Altman. “I go to tournaments all over the country, and I see what these cities do with their senior softball, and San Antonio is way behind.”

In April, Altman, who lives in Garden Ridge, received the Personal Best Award from the National Senior Games Association, which recognizes those who strive for fitness and wellness while encouraging others to be active. He is one of 25 senior athletes across the nation to receive the award in 2013.

“Bill is an inspiration to individuals by sending a message through his actions,” says Marc T. Riker, chief executive officer for the National Senior Games Association. “Instead of waiting for others to create an opportunity, go out and do it for yourself and others.”

“I played baseball since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” he says. “I wanted to be a major league ballplayer when I was 10 years old. That was my ambition.”

He didn't make it to the big leagues, but he played intramural fast-pitch softball in college and his first year in the Air Force. Altman retired from the service in San Antonio in 1972 to run a string of businesses, including the Herald newspapers, community papers later purchased by the Express-News.

In 1987, he joined the senior slow-pitch softball team during the first Senior Olympics here.

“We had one team,” he says. “No one over 60 was playing. Back then, the old guys weren't doing anything but watching or sitting in their rocking chairs.”

Altman went on to form the San Antonio Senior Softball League, which has since expanded to 30 teams and more than 500 players.

Besides playing, Altman manages three teams and helps run the league, which has become his passion. He also travels the country with two traveling teams. He was inducted into the Texas Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 2011.

The San Antonio Tigers softball team won the 75-and-older division at the Texas State Senior Games here on April 6, qualifying for the National Senior Games in Cleveland in July, although the team won't be competing because some players are unable to make the trip. Altman also qualified for the 50-yard and 100-yard dashes in his age group, but a leg injury sustained in a recent tournament in Reno, Nev., prevents him from competing.

Besides a few injuries, aging hasn't affected his athleticism, says Altman, who is in good health and takes no prescription medication.

“Physically, I really am in peak physical condition,” he says.

Altman walks his two rescue dogs every morning, then plays softball or golf. He enjoys the competition and the camaraderie of softball, but it also motivates him to stay in shape.

“You know you have to be in decent physical shape to play the game,” he says. “You eat right and exercise.... No one wants to look bad out there.”

Much of his energy also goes toward promoting senior softball and campaigning for upgraded facilities.

In 2009, the San Antonio Senior Softball League, a nonprofit organization, solicited money from sponsors to fix up the run-down ball fields at Normoyle Park on the South Side in return for rental credits from the city. The league then presented a $2.7 million proposal to create a four-field regional softball complex at Normoyle with money from the latest bond program, but the park received just $500,000, and other stakeholders have different visions for the park. No decision has been reached as to whether any money will go to upgrade the softball facilities.

Altman says investing in the complex would demonstrate the city's commitment to the fitness of its residents, especially senior residents. It would also attract out-of-town teams for tournaments.

The league welcomes all levels of players — its motto is “No player left behind” — and the league seeks a women's team.

Exercise is essential for a long life and a good quality of life, Altman says, and he wants to encourage more seniors to find a sport or fitness routine they're passionate about.

“The problem is getting them out there in first place,” he says. “They think they can't do it anymore. The guys who get to come out to our softball league find out that they can. So they're tickled to death.”